Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Hub Hoops

Greg Oden and the Portland Trailblazers, excuse me, the Blazers featuring Greg Oden, will be in town Friday night.

Not that Oden’s been terrible, but Brandon Roy (21.1 ppg) and LaMarcus Aldridge (15.9 ppg) have been outstanding.

Obviously, a lot is expected out of Oden, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft. Probably too much. But as Kendrick Perkins said, “He wasn’t the No. 1 pick for nothing.”

Doc Rivers was complimentary of the big fella, pointing out that at as a center, you’re expected to contribute right away.

“You may lean on that position more,” he said. “When they throw a big on the floor they want you to be a defensive stopper now. (It’s), ‘OK, go and make sure no one scores. Get all the rebounds. You’re still trying to figure out how to play and all that. I think when a big is drafted high like that, I think teams rely on that position more immediately.”

Great centers usually dominate as rookies. Oden is averaging 8.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and about 22 minutes per game.

Here’s an unscientific sampling:

Shaquille O’Neal (23.4 ppg, 13.9 rpg)
Wilt Chamberlain (37.6 ppg, 27.0 — OK that’s freakish)
Hakeem Olajuwon (20.6 ppg, 11.9 rpg)
David Robinson (24.3 ppg, 12.0 rpg)
George Mikan (28.3 ppg, ? rpg)
Ralph Sampson (21.0 ppg, 11.1 rpg)
Bill Russell (14.7 ppg, 19.6 rpg)
Kareem Abdul-jabbar (28.8 ppg, 14.5)
Moses Malone (18.8 ppg, 14.6 rpg)*
Willis Reed (19.5 ppg, 14.7 rpg)
Eric Montross (10.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg)
Bill Walton (12.8 ppg, 12.6 rpg)
Robert Parish (9.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
Yao Ming (13.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg)
Patrick Ewing (20.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg)
*ABA

Couple things to point out.

Parish was with Golden State. Clearly hadn’t hit his stride yet. Four years later he was averaging 19 and 9 for Boston.

Walton only played 35 games as a rookie. His injury problems had already begun.

Russell “only” averaged 14.7 points a game. Obviously we all know he wasn’t a scoring machine.

Gotta love Montross. Made me want to have a wiffle in the fourth grade.

After I wake up tomorrow, I’ll post a piece I wrote on Oden. Thad Matta, the Ohio State coach, was pretty insightful.

‘Til morning…

Share This

Rajon Rondo walked through the locker room chewing on a big block of ice.

“My teeth are in so it’s fine,” he said.

Fat lip aside (T.J. Ford hit him in the mouth in the first quarter; it wasn’t a finger injury, my brilliant initial diagnosis.), he was feeling pretty good about himself. Rightfully so.

The third-year point guard notched with his first career triple-double, finishing with 17 assists, 16 points and 13 rebounds.

“Everyone’s getting their shots and we’re winning,” Rondo said, citing Paul Pierce’s 17 attempts, Kevin Garnett’s 14 attempts and Ray Allen’s 18 attempts. “They’re all unselfish guys. As long as we’re winning, no one’s complaining.”

KG, like usual, gave Rondo his props.

“He was amazing,” Garnett said after Boston’s 114-96 win over Indiana, one of two teams that have defeated the Celtics this season. “It seemed like there was three Rondos out there tonight. I looked up and he passed the ball to (Pierce) and it came off the rim and he was rebounding it. Then all of a sudden I got back on defense and he had beat me back. Then (Danny) Granger (20 points) went to drive and he was there on the strip and we got loose and threw it up for a layup and he got the layup.

“I sort of had to turn around and was like how many…he was everywhere.”

Rondo seems to be enjoying some sort of cosmic connection with Allen and Garnett these days. Rondo’s alley-oops to KG looked smoother than the mid-1990s Stephon Marbury-to-Garnett hook ups. I suppose the Pacers’ porous defense contributed to that, but still. They looked in sync. Allen finished with a game-high 31. The former Jesus Shuttlesworth is enjoying Rondo’s company too.

“I’m not guessing what he’s doing,” Allen said. “I know where he’s going with the ball on most of the plays, and I know where I need to be. Pretty much, I get a lot of open looks. Even when Paul’s in there, I tell him, ‘When you see Rondo drive to the hole, you go right to the baseline. (Be) the outlet and get a shot.’”

“Just keeping everyone happy,” Rondo said, is a good thing.

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck chimed in as he walked out of the Celtics locker room: “Game ball to Rondo.” Can’t disagree with him there.

That makes it 10 straight wins for the 18-2 Celtics.

Share This

It’s 110-94 with 2:03 remaining. Gino’s on the JumboTron. Be back in a bit with more on Rondo’s big night.

Share This

Gotta love Eddie House. He just got called for his fifth personal foul. He’s played 11 minutes.

Eddie put his hands up incredulously afterward. Jarrett Jack hit the deck. House might’ve poked him in the eye. I’m not sure.

Gotta love the drunk guy sitting behind us. “SCALLLLLAABREEEENNNNIIIIEEEEEEE!” Guess this one’s out of reach.

Rajon Rondo just hit Kevin Garnett for an alley-oop. The Pacers aren’t interested in defense anymore apparently. KG literally walked into the lane, took a couple steps and launched into the air for a one-handed jam. That was Rondo’s 16th assist of the night.

His 17th came on another alley-oop to Garnett. The leads is up to 19 again (108-89).

Jeez, Patrick O’Bryant had a dunk. Things are going Boston’s way.

Share This

Indiana cut the Boston lead to eight (90-82) after Troy Murphy’s 3-point play.

Then Kevin Garnett hit one off the bank. Then Ray Allen hit a three. Then Paul Pierce hit a three.

Lead’s back up to 16.

Share This

Boston seems to be drifting a bit after building a 20-plus point lead in the third. Now the Celtics are only up 15.

Ray Allen’s 26 leads all scorers.

Forgot to mention this before. Perk is a Beast has an interesting examination of the C’s.

Share This

Today is a good day for Rajon Rondo. At 6:56 in the third quarter, the third-year point guard already has a triple-double (13 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists). The Celtics are running the Pacers ragged. Ray Allen just dunked a ball over Troy Murphy , nearly falling on him in the process.

By the way, that’s Rondo’s first career triple-double. It’s also the first time a Celtics point guard completed the impressive trifecta since Dennis Johnson did it on May 6, 1988.

Share This

The Celtics didn’t exactly blow Indiana away in the second, but still have a 57-51 lead.

Ray Allen looked flat out awesome in the first half, scoring 19 points (6 of 10) and going 3 for 3 from the line. He also played 20 minutes, which probably is a bit much for Doc Rivers’ liking. Allen was open constantly around the perimeter. At one point, he even passed up a wide open 3-pointer and hit Kendrick Perkins for an easy layup. Allen has been playing well but the guy needs to rest.

Boston gave up 51 points in the first. Indiana’s shooting 46.8 percent too. Not horrific, but not up to their standards.

Whoa, almost forgot. Rajon Rondo is on the verge of a triple double. He has 10 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds at the half.

Be back in a few.

Share This

Roy Hibbert is in the game. He just scored on an uncontested layup. Shouldn’t a 7-foot-2 guy be dunking the ball?!?

Watching him lumber up and down the court brings me back to the story my brother, who lives in Washington, D.C., told me recently. He was jogging one afternoon in Georgetown last spring and did a double take. There he was, flanked by two GU trainers, Roy Hibbert, doing hills.

I imagine him moving at the speed of one of those giant street sweepers.

Hibbert is averaging 3.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and about 10 minutes per game. He could be a pretty effective player, but at this point, he just looks kinda goofy.

By the way, Ray Allen’s trey gave Boston a 28-27 lead at the end of the first quarter. He leads all scorers with 13. Indiana’s Danny Granger has been great — he’s averaging 24.7 points per game after all. He has nine on 3 of 5 from the floor.

Rajon Rondo’s apparent finger injury doesn’t look like it’s affecting him. He’s played 10 minutes so far.

Share This

Not much brewing here yet. Tony Allen’s out with an ankle sprain, probably until Sunday. It could cause a dilemma here. Ray Allen isn’t someone who should be playing 48 minutes. Not with his age and injury history. Doc Rivers seems to be aware of this. I think.

“It crystallized the last game honestly for us, I’ve been saying it, if you lose one of those guards, Tony, Ray or Paul, there’s a hole,” Rivers said.

So what to do? Doc says the C’s could go small, with some combination of Eddie House, Rajon Rondo and Gabe Pruitt in the backcourt.

Rivers did have this to say about T.A., who’s averaging 8.8 points per game this season:

“I think he could be a dominant defender, he hasn’t been that yet. He’s been good, he’s been very good. … He’s a tough, tough kid, he could be an unreal defender.”

Doc addressed the Sam Mitchell firing (the Raptors canned him after four-plus seasons at the helm today) diplomatically. Toronto is off to an 8-9 start. It’s not like the Raptors are 1-16.

“That’s our job,” he said before citing football coach Tommy Tuberville, who Auburn fired after 10 seasons this week.

There’s going to be a lot of turnover.

“If you lose,” Rivers, who’s struggled himself at times, quipped, “you just hope that Danny Ainge is on your side.”

On a serious note, Indiana coach (and former Celtics coach) Jim O’Brien spoke about former Celtic Rodney Rogers, who was injured in an ATV accident Monday.

“One of the finest people that I’ve ever coached in the NBA. I’ve spent a lot of time with Rodney out in Phoenix during the summer we were trying to sign him,” O’Brien said. “A great family man, a man of immense faith. Certainly he’s going to need that great family and that faith to get through this.”

Share This